Fall 2017 Interns

2017 Fall Interns

Sara A. Ahmed is a disruptive leader, human rights advocate, and a highly motivated Masters of Public Administration candidate. She specializes in humanitarian projects, strategic planning, advocacy, and international public policy projects management. Crafting a personal, academic, and professional brand aimed at bettering humanity and empowering others, Sara has a special focus on Philanthropy, Government Relations, Middle East Studies, and Women and Gender Equality and Empowerment Causes to ensure equal economic, education, and public policy inclusion. As a passionate Fulbright scholar, professional, and community leader, Sara supports humanitarian and human rights causes through international development projects. In that capacity she handled projects that involve government, private, and public agencies in Egypt, the USA, Pakistan, Canada, Syria, and Algeria. Sara was interviewed by Voice of America and was featured in the NH Union Leader and the American Friends Service Committee for supporting resettlement efforts for refugees. Sara believes that freedom, dignity, and equality are challenges that can be addressed with a multicultural understanding between nations. Sara is an external intern with the Brookings Institution.

Sydney Roeder is a recent graduate of Albion College in Michigan where she majored in both Anthropology and International Studies. Previously, she has studied the Arabic language both at Middlebury Language Schools and while abroad her junior year in Jordan. While in Jordan, she also had the opportunity to intern for Eco Peace Middle East, an organization devoted to environmental sustainability issues in Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank. From there, her studies shifted to focus on water rights issues in the Levant with a particular interest in the Red/Dead Sea Pipeline and water privatization. This blossomed into a thesis which she completed her senior year. Next year, she is excited to attend Georgetown University for a Masters of Arts in Arab Studies with a concentration in development. Sydney is AAI’s Programs Intern.

Hanna Saba is a recent graduate of Denison University where he majored in Political Science and minored in Arabic. Hanna is a first generation Arab American and a descendant of Palestinian refugees. During his time at Denison, Hanna was involved in creating the Middle Eastern Cultural Organization and later served as its president. His mission was to spread awareness of the issues happening overseas as well as educate his peers on the traditions and various cultures of the region. He was also a teaching assistant, working alongside his Arabic professor assisting the beginning and intermediate classes. Being of Palestinian heritage, Hanna is strongly passionate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the influence that the international community has on the issue. He completed his senior research on the failed attempts of transitional justices between Israel and Palestine from President John F. Kennedy to Barak Obama. Hanna plans to continue his education in Public Policy and Middle Eastern Studies. He isAAI’s Government Relations Intern.

Sarah Seniuk graduated from American University in 2016 with a Master’s degree in Ethics, Peace, and Global affairs with a focus on human rights and social justice. Her academic research has focused on the re-building of domestic and international systems supporting human rights and social justice projects, and a reimagining of community healing during or after violent conflict. She previously interned at the Middle East Institute in their publications department, working on projects for the Middle East Journal. Her academic and professional goals center on bridging the divide of research, advocacy, and activism to help bring forward meaningful policy change both domestically and internationally. Sarah is AAI’s Communications Intern.